South Carolina kidnapping suspect confesses to 7 murders

PUBLISHED Sat, November 05, 2016 - 11:29pm EDT

Credit: Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office

South Carolina murder suspect Todd Kohlhepp, who was arrested after holding a woman captive for more than two months, has confessed to killing at least seven people, including the woman's boyfriend, officials say. (more)

Kohlhepp, 45, told investigators on Saturday that he was responsible for an unsolved quadruple murder that happened at the Superbike Motorsports shop in Chesnee in November 2003. "He told us some stuff that nobody else ought to know," Sheriff Chuck Wright explained.

The suspect, a real estate agent who is also a registered sex offender, also confessed to killing 32-year-old Charlie Carver, the boyfriend of 30-year-old Kala Brown. The woman was rescued on Thursday from Kohlhepp's property in Spartanburg County, having been held captive for more than 2 months.

A body was found in a shallow grave at the property on Friday and the remains were later identified as Carver, who is believed to have been shot and killed.

Also on Saturday, Kohlhepp confessed that he had killed at least two more people and pointed investigators to two locations at the property where he claims the victims were buried. Investigators have yet to confirm the claim.

Wright said he did not know who the other two victims could be but said they might involve missing person cases. The sheriff did not rule out that Kohlhepp could be responsible for more than 7 murders and investigators will need weeks to search multiple properties that are owned by Kohlhepp.

Kohlhepp was arrested after Brown was found "chained up" inside a container in which she is believed to have been held captive since she and her boyfriend were abducted in late August. During their disappearance, messages were posted on Carver's Facebook account, claiming that the couple was fine and had left voluntarily.

Kohlhepp was registered as a sex offender after he was convicted of raping a 14-year-old girl in Arizona in 1986, when Kohlhepp himself was just 15 years old. He was released from prison in 2001 and moved to South Carolina, where he got a pilot's license and earned a degree before pursuing a real estate career.

Kohlhepp is being held without bond.

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